Monday, December 29, 2008

Night Snowboarding @ Big Mountain



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It took awhile for the snow to finally arrive so this is our first time out snowboarding this season. In October Krysteene got a new snowboard, as an early birthday present, and was finally able to blow the dust off it and take it down the slope. Krystian & Krysteen have been snowboarding for 3 years now and they both seem to prefer going to Big Mountain for the night skiing which is offered on Fridays and Saturdays. The night skiing is nice because there are less people out and no glare from the sun...it makes for a real fun time.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008

Build & Grow @ Lowe's
























Over the past few months we have been taking Kyersten and Kenneth to Lowe's for the Build & Grow workshops. Lowe's sponsors 2 workshops a month and the projects usually match the theme for the month. In October they built wooden Jack-O-Lanterns, November was a Semi-truck tailer and race car, and football goal posts and in December it was a Gingerbread house. The kids are given "I built it" certificates along with a theme patch for each project they complete. They both enjoy working on the projects and count down the days to the next one.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Hunting Season 2008 in Montana


Krys and I spent the first two weeks, of the season, hunting for his buck...but all we saw were does. On Sunday 11/2/08 I filled my general deer tag by shooting a Whitetail doe near the town of Marion. We have until the weekend after Thanksgiving for Krys to hunt and hopefully get his whitetail buck....but if it comes down to it he should be able to get a doe since there are so many of them in this area.
We were able to spend a week near Dell, Montana hunting elk and enjoying the beautiful outdoors. During the week we did a lot of hiking and were able to see mule deer, whitetail deer & antelope. On Thursday 11/13/08 I was able to fill my elk tag by taking a cow- unfortunately I had Krys stay back at camp, to rest, so he was not with me- there were 3 hunters from our group that were blessed with a cow elk by the end of the week.


11/29/08- Krys was able to fill his general deer tag by taking this Whitetail doe out near Marion. This was the first deer that he field dressed, skinned and in a few days, with the guidance of Scott Bailey, will be processing the meat. Our family was truly blessed to be able to put 2 deer and 1 elk in the freezer, and it would not have been possible without the friendship and patience that our friends, the Baileys, gave us throughout this hunting season.














Saturday, November 1, 2008

Happy Fall!!! Harvest 2008















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Greetings from The Big SkyMontana! Summer is finally over and fall is here...soon it will be winter again---SNOW!

Life has been pretty busy with all our four children. From preparing and taking their college prep tests to their youth group functions and their social lives, we have to make sure we still have our family night every week. Hunting season is also a very important part of our two big boys.

Ken took on a new job. He now works for the Travelers Insurance as a Field Appraiser. He is enjoying it because he sees God's paintings everyday. He drives around his designated area for the company and sees a lot of wild animals living in Montana. Last week, he was in Helena, about four hours away from where we live and he got to play with SNOW!!!

Me, I still work for Target. I also took on a new position. It's a lot more work and time sensitive, but I get to work on my own. Nothing much for me--just a MOM. Making sure that all the kids are still doing their schoolwork and getting them to all the places that they need to be.

Krystian is now 15 and a Sophomore; Krysteene will be 14 on Christmas Eve and a Freshman, Kyersten(Bekah) is already 7,but acts as if she is a teenager, and our last but not least, Kenneth who just turned 5 a month ago--a very busy and active little boy who is full of energy. Boy! Where did the time go? Sometimes, I wish I can just freeze the time and keep the little ones little as long as I can, but I know they have to grow up and move on.

Krystian is such a grown man and frankly,a lot of people think he is already over 18. When he wears his camo pants and jacket,everyone thinks he's in the service. He is very active in his youth group. He sometimes leads the Guys' Bible Study group. He is a part of The Student Leadership also known as Project Disciple--his drawing/design was chosen to be used as the logo for the group. He's gone to Mexico and also to Seattle and Spokane,WA area with the youth group and their youth pastor,Rob Schaut, to do some ministry. Krys loves hunting. In fact,as I am writing this blog,he and his Dad with four other grown men are out hunting for deer in the woods right now. We want just the meat for food, but Krys would like to have a "trophy". He was able to get a "three point" buck for his hunting last year and we had it mounted. Both Krys & Kryssie enjoy "Swing Dancing" with their friends.

Krysteene enjoys playing volleyball. This year, she was part of our homeschool girls JV/Varsity Volleyball team. We are so proud of the girls--they took home the MCAA State Championship Trophy--Montana Christian Athletic Association. She is also very involved in her youth group with Krys. Their new project is to go door-to-door in the whole Kalispell neighborhood for the Thanksgiving outreach.

Bekah is now in 2nd grade and loves going to AWANA every week. She loves reading books especially chapter books. We go to the library at least twice a month--she usually takes home 20 books at a time,but the last time we were at the library(last weekend),we brought home 33 books and she is already done with all of them! Bekah also played indoor soccer this year and Daddy was the assistant coach for her team. She also participated in Track & Field. She loves to sing,but we skipped the Homeschool Choir group this year.

Kenneth is so proud that he can now write his own name and recognizes all his letters and numbers. He also loves to read. He is the one that gets into trouble all the time. He makes his big sister,Bekah, cry a lot. He is the challenging one out of all the four. He is also very funny. He says the funniest words and just makes you laugh especially when he knows you are upset. He is our funny man!

Until then, hope you enjoy the pictures and videos of the kids celebrating the Harvest Festival 2008.


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